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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the all-time best Action Roleplay Games ever made. Don’t believe us? We’re not the only people who think so, and for good reason. A thrilling mix of story and gameplay, if you’re into ARPGs this is a game you don’t want to miss out on.
There are only a select few games I would put into my S-tier list of games played, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of them. CD Projekt Red, the developers of the game, knocked this one out of the park. I can hardly believe it’s been nearly seven years since the game first hit shelves in early 2015. With over 260 game of the year awards and ranking as the most awarded game of all time until 2021, it’s easy to see why I feel so strongly about the game.
You play a legendary Witcher named Geralt of Rivia. If you know nothing at all about the games or books, a Witcher is someone that was once human but has been altered by years of magical and physical training coupled with some pretty aggressive genetic mutations. These mutations are possible thanks to a mix of alchemy and magic, but are dangerous and have a low success rate in most subjects.
Witchers are created with a singular purpose, to slay monsters…for coin. Yep, that’s right. They’re monster-killing mercenaries, and damn good at their jobs with Geralt, in particular, being in a class of his own.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open-world Action Roleplay Game, where you get to roam freely, complete quests, and progress at your own pace. You join your trusty steed, Roach, in a huge world where you get to choose your own path and make your own destiny. If you ever get bored of the main story or side quests, you can even play an addictively good card game, Gwent, but that’s another review altogether.
One piece of advice before Jumping into the Witcher 3 is to not skip the cut scenes if you can help it. The story plays a huge part in the enjoyment of the game and when you first jump in you might be tempted to get right into the action instead of letting them play out. Resist this temptation and you’ll be surprised by a rich and enjoyable story that plays alongside the deep and enjoyable game.
My experience with the game
The good
There’s so much to love about this game, it’s quite hard to single out just a few to talk about here. The combat is smooth. You get to learn the basics easily, but there is a complexity to it that takes time to master. The story is deep. Even if you stick to the linear main story, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much enjoyment you get from progressing, gearing up, making impactful choices, and meeting new characters. Speaking of characters, they are deep and complex enough to give you that immersion you’re craving. There’s really just so much to love about this game and my experience is that everyone who likes this genre and picks up the game will find a load of great things to share, and they might not be the same as your own.
The bad
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though. There are small things that do frustrate you the more you get into the game. As much as I love roach, the poor guy sometimes just makes me want to walk him off a cliff. The controls on horseback feel a little clunky, and you find yourself on horseback quite a bit while playing the game. For a loot-lover such as myself, sometimes the looting system does feel a little underwhelming with the rewards you get. I often find myself wishing I had better gear, and getting there is a little grindy.
The ugly
A game like this has very few major flaws. Some of the flaws are simply subjective in nature even. I, for instance, don’t enjoy vulgar language or overly sexualised female characters and content in games. This being a personal preference, I can subjectively put it into this category for myself, but the same might not be true for you. Other than the subjective issues, there is some debate in the community about leveling progression being a little unbalanced and I tend to agree. You get a disproportionate amount of xp from main quests vs. side quests and this leads to you being pigeon-holed into following the main story if you want to make any real progression.
Closing
All in all, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one hell of a good game and I have personally gotten hundreds of hours of solid playtime from it. And as I said, if you’re ever bored with the game, you can always play some Gwent.
If you feel like this article covered the game well enough, or you’d just like to share some of your thoughts or questions, leave a comment and get engaged. We’d love to hear what you think and we’re sure others would love to too.
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt plays like many other games in its genre. One great example to compare it to is, Skyrim. You get to move around the world freely, taking on side-quests as you choose. There’s never really any wrong choice, but there are bad ones. Don’t worry, when you make them you’ll know and probably live to regret making them before your session is over. The idea of the Witcher 3 is simple really, and nothing unique. So what makes it so good then?
General gameplay
One interesting nuance in the game is that you as you get to choose whether you want to play the game in first or third-person mode. This unlocks a world of potential and cranks the immersion up to the next level completely.
The great thing about the game is that you get to choose what to do. If you want to run head-first into every situation and wing it, you can. If you want to plan meticulously to take on the exact creature you’ll be facing, you can too. There are so many small things you can tweak, equip, drink and use that it really opens the door to creating your own playstyle. Every monster you face has weaknesses and while not technically monsters, the same can be said for human enemies. As a Witcher, your natural combat ability can only get you so far, and it will be up to you to choose the right combinations for the right situation. We’ll touch on this more later though.
As you progress through the story you will unlock skills, abilities, weapons, and strong items that help you face any foe you come across. These are all useless though if not used in the right situations. Often, I’ve found, the knowledge you gather is just as important if not more so than some of the most powerful weapons at your disposal.
Mechanics and unique features
Diving a little deeper, you can clearly see how simple yet complex the game truly is. Combat is easy enough to grasp, but as you progress you will get access to new and improved moves that help you in any number of situations. There is a visual progress as you use certain things, and the more you use a particular practice, the better you will be at it. You get access to better blocking, stronger attacks, better evasion tactics, and a number of Witcher Signs.
Signs allow you to use simple magic, as Witchers are not great mages. You can choose to poison your blade, lob explosives, set nasty traps or simply set things on fire. Again though, signs are powerless alone and will not allow you to breeze through the game easily if you master them. They will help you do that if you master them alongside the other key mechanics.
An aspect of the game that goes hand-in-hand with the items and magic are mutagens and talents. The best way to think of these is like abilities you purchase which you need to equip and boosts to those abilities that you can equip to enhance them. Try playing around with a combination of talents and mutagens that fit your playstyle and try not to fall into the trap of settling on something just because it’s rare or looks good. Often the best item you can have is the one you feel most comfortable with.
A few tips on how to approach any combat situation you’re not sure of in the game.
Prepare.
Make sure you are familiar with evasion tactics like dodging, parrying, rolling, and counter-attacking.
Make sure you’ve done your research and can puzzle out what enemy you’ll likely be facing. Get the right mix of potions, decoctions, oils, and bombs together.
Figure out if you’ll need to get up close and personal or if taking the ranges approach is best.
Get familiar with your signs, they are lifesavers.
Have fun and play how you want to.
I truly hope if you’ve read this far that my words can convince you to give this game a try. If you love it or hate it let us know or simply share some thoughts below on how you feel.
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